For starters, Windows Mobile 6 is a piece of crap. Case in point: I plug in my freakin' Hotmail account to set up email, and it tells me it can't do it, and refers me to a web link that I can't open. I am sure there's a product manager who will quickly explain to me what I did wrong, and the 17 steps I should memorize in order to do it correctly. But could this possibly be my fault?

Other examples of this:
• When typing, I couldn't find the symbol options until I pressed a few buttons at random, but when I tried the same combo a second time, it didn't work.
• I launched Solitaire, yet couldn't figure out how to play with the d-pad or jog dial, and gave up in anger. Again, my fault, right?
• Lag lag lag lag lag. (No way that's my fault.)

The next party to blame is Verizon Wireless: While I admire the effort to modernize the antiquated and unhelpful Windows Mobile screen, the thing VZW put in its place is pretty scary. I could let that go—you know, different strokes, different folks—were it not for the fact that you can't customize it at all. You either get the V Cast Music, camera, media player and volume controls, or you get nothing. Why shouldn't you be able to program the screen as a launcher for your most appropriate apps? Yeah, that's probably just some crazy idea. You can switch to the assorted useless Windows Mobile screens, but they are, as I indicated, no improvement.

It does have V Cast Music—$1.99 for over-the-air songs you could get elsewhere cheaper—but no one has figured out how to provide the V Cast video service on a Windows Mobile device yet. If you ever wanted to demonstrate the value of Verizon's streaming video, it would be great to do it on the Q9m's attractive 2.5" screen.

I could lay into the pricing plans for this thing pretty hard, but I won't even bother. If you buy this for $200 (online, limited time), you deserve two years of paying $80 per month for service. In case you are curious, the starter plan includes 450 minutes of talk plus unlimited email and on-phone browsing. If you want to use it as a modem for your computer, you'll pay $15 extra per month.

Regarding the GPS question that some of you had, Verizon says that GPS is enabled for navigational use, but I have to tell you that I see no evidence of it when digging through various Windows menus. This could easily be the fault of the oblique operating system, however. As far as Verizon's own VZNavigator goes, there is no Windows Mobile version at this time. So GPS-wise, you're either SOL, or just totally on your own.

Last and least, Motorola is at fault for this trainwreck. It's not a bad looking phone, but the red-and-black motif and Verizon branding says it all, that Moto is willing to set aside all of its own quality priorities in order to sell a phone through a carrier. Spineless decisions out of Schaumburg, IL made the RAZR both ubiquitous and worthless, and it's apparently still happening.

• Moto Q9m and Q9c are the CDMA versions of the Q9h, and the consumer and business models, respectively. Q9m probably dropping by the end of the month; Q9c available Q4.

• UTStarcom SMT5800 (HTC Libra) is a WM6 smartphone with both a numeric and sliding QWERTY keyboard, 2MP cam, 128MB flash, 64MB RAM, EV-DO (upgradeable to Rev. A). Most likely available in Oct.

• Samsung i760 is hitting in Sept.

• Another HTC phone, a Verizon version of the Mogul (UTStarcom XV6800)—same specs as Sprint's model it seems, also dropping in October.

• Palm Treo 755p will be in available in November, running Palm OS 5.4.9.

• RIM BlackBerry 8130 Pearl is another Verizon version of older phone, though it comes with a 2MP cam and EV-DO—still, not so exciting with the Pearl 2 around the corner probably the Pearl 2. No release date mentioned, oddly.

• Moto Z6c Jackques is EV-DO CDMA but packs GSM for jetsetters who can wait until Nov. Its cousin, the Z6tv, um, has TV features, available "second half" of '07, we presume.

• Verizon CDM-8630 is an entry level with a simple UI and one-touch dialing, also second half of '07.

• Samsung SCH-U410 and LG VX5400 are two mid-level clamshells due by year's end, replacing the U340 and VX5300, respectively. The LG VX8300 is also getting bumped in that time frame, by the VX8350.

• Ending the list is a pair of Samsung phones: a CDMA version of the U700 and the U900, which looks to sport a 3MP cam and high-res camcorder. Both are slotted for the last half of '07.

Okay, end spoilers. [Phone Arena, Image via Flickr]